Potting my hydrangea, will I still get blooms?

quilt_mommy(5/6 Northeast Ohio)March 29, 2011

I bought a very small hydrangea from a box store when I moved into my house about 4 years ago, and while it's in shade it's not in a very good location. I would like to pot it so I can move it as I please, but I discovered one year when I transplanted it that it didn't like to be moved and it didn't bloom that year. If I dig up my hydragea early enough in spring is it likely that it will still bloom when I pot it?

Also do hydrangeas do well in pots? Or am I better off just finding a permanent home for it?

It is likely that you have a hydrangea that blooms on old wood (the blue/pink ones). If so, blooms this year depend on how happy it was LAST year - not whether or not you move it this year. If it is not getting enough sun then it won't bloom. Or if you prune in the spring, you could be cutting off the blooms since they formed last year.

Some hydrangeas do fine in pots, the smaller ones mostly.

So, anyway, do you know what kind it is? Or can you describe the blooms?

Hydrangeas can grow just fine in containers, although some varieties do get quite large. But you will need to find some sort of adequate winter storage for it - plants grown in containers tend to be a couple of zones less hardy than the same plant grown in the ground. And even in the ground, macrophylla's in Ohio will require winter protection of their top growth to preserve the flower buds for summer bloom.

There are a lot of extra considerations that need to be addressed when growing a typical landscape plant in a container. In your climate, I'd be inclined to find a permanent home for this plant for best results.

I am aware that blooms are on old wood, and it's very possible that in the transplant I could have damaged the wood. Maybe a better idea would be to find a permanent home then. I adore this plant and have wanted a hydrangea for years...it's a little one but gorgeous all the same!

But 'Endless Summer' is meant to bloom on both old and new wood, so if you are not getting blooms all year then it may not be getting enough sun to form blooms. Or if you have deer they could be munching the tips off - one other possibility.

It may not be endless summer, I honestly cannot remember the name of it. To be quite honest I really haven't given the plant enough attention to know if it's blooming on old and new wood. I will have to look for that as the plant begins to wake up from winter. We do have deer - would they be eating the flowers as well though? They like to eat the heads off of the peonies that are planted around the corner from these, and I haven't noticed any disturbance to the hydrangeas. The only problem I've had with the plant to date is the summer following the year I planted this I decided to move it, and it didn't bloom that year. Other than that it's been realiable and relatively problem free.